April 6, 2011

Carmel-by-the-Sea

On Sunday morning, Keith, his mom Barbara, her dog Rocky and I headed to Carmel. Carmel is about 1 1/2 hours from where we live. It is such a cute area with tons of fun little shops, a beautiful beach, great restaurants and lots of them are dog friendly. The really nice thing about Carmel is that there are no big name hotels and few big name shops and restaurants. This gives the area a real quaint feel. My family and I have been taking family trips to Carmel for as long as I can remember, and I have many fond memories of fun times with my parents, sister and grandparents from our time there. Keith and I have vacationed there as well, and have always wanted to take his mom and Rocky there!

Rocky is pretty darn cute, he likes to dig a hole at the beach so he can sit in it.

Easter egg bath salts at Lush. They are the sweetest thing I have ever smelled.

Did you know: Clint Eastwood and once owned the Hog's Breath Inn at San Carlos and Fifth Avenue in downtown Carmel, but they sold it many years ago.

Lunch on the patio at the Hog's Breath Inn. The building on the left is the restaurant, and on the right side of the patio there is another little tiny "shack" that is the 'pub'--so quaint.

Rocky was an excellent diner. He barely even begged!

The tables are made of polished driftwood.

Next stop was Diggity Dog, a dog and cat boutique. This shop is where I first bought by family's dog, Conan one of these, which he loves. You remember Conan, right?

Diggity Dog is amazing!

Look at all those treats!

Rocky was in heaven!

We bought some treats for a few of our favorite pooches.

The last stop was this cute little cottagey candy shop. It was packed in there, so we didn't stay and buy anything.

It was such a fun day trip. The weather was perfect, we had a great lunch and a fun time at the beach--we even stopped at the Banana outlet on the way home. We're planning to make a trip back real soon!